How to Make Yourself Smarter?

STEPS

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   Realize that you're not as smart as you think. Surveys where people self-report their intelligence show that over half the population (more than 50%) believe they are smarter than "average". If you know anything about a normal distribution of intelligence, you can quickly figure out that it's nearly impossible for more than half of the population to be above average intelligence. Since this is the case, we must assume that people overestimate how smart they are, and that most of us are actually just about average. Once you understand how much you don't know, you'll automatically seem smarter. To really smart people, no one looks dumber than a know-it-all.
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   Reflect. Look back on your day every night before bed and think about how it went and what you could have done differently. Reflection (thinking about your strengths and weaknesses, how you appear to others, etc) can help you find areas of knowledge or behavior that you want to improve, and motivate you to keep working on them.
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   Ask a friend to help identify blind spots. You might think that you're great at asking questions in class and ignore that behavior when you reflect on your day, but the others in the group might not be interested in the answers and think it'd be smarter to ask the teacher after class. Remember that everyone has their own definition of what's smart - so ask 2 or 3 friends, to get a good picture of how you present yourself and where you can improve.
   • By now you look much smarter. You have admitted you don't know everything, which means you should be having an easier time asking questions and learning from people around you. Even if you don't understand something the first time, the fact that you admit it makes you look a lot smarter than someone who pretends to get it, and then messes up.
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   You should also be able to think about yourself and identify flaws, or have people close to you who are willing to help with this. Even if you like yourself just fine and don't want to change, knowing what other people see will help you understand how they react to you - which will make you smarter and more sympathetic toward others.
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   Open your mind. You have learned how to ask for help and realized you have a lot to learn. You can't learn if you insist that you will only study certain things or listen to certain people. Being smart means treating everyone with respect, and knowing the other side of things.
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   Know when to stay quiet. There's an old quote which states (paraphrased) that the fool may appear to be wise, until he opens his mouth. Sometimes, you may think that nothing you say or do will appear smart. In those cases, think first and stay quiet... no one will know how dumb you feel, but they will remember how smart you looked by staying out of it!
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   Read!. This is NOT necessary, but reading quality books is a good way to learn. A person who has been reading quality books for 10 years is undoubtedly smart. You could start with something simple, like a fun novel entangled with philosophy.